Pentagon Sees No Indication of Turkey's Plans to Expand Olive Branch to Manbij

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - The Pentagon has seen no indication of Turkey planning to move to the Syrian city of Manbij, Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Stability and Humanitarian Affairs Mark Swayne said at a Washington, DC think tank on Monday.

"I think that our cooperation and military-to-military communications with our NATO ally is excellent, and I don’t expect that will change at all," Swayne said. "So, our military-to-military cooperation will continue. I have no indication that they are going to move into Manbij."

This declaration, however, contradicts the announcement of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan he made on on January 25, saying that Ankara might extend its Operation Olive Branch against Kurdish forces in Syria's Afrin to Manbij and further east up to the Iraqi border in pursuit of ensuring the security of its southern borders.

Just before launching the Afrin offensive, the Turkish president indicated that the operation could also cover the Syrian district of Manbij, controlled by Kurdish organizations such as the Democratic Union Party (PYD) and the People's Protection Units (YPG), which are recognized by Ankara as terrorist groups.

Olive Branch

Turkey started a military offensive in the Afrin region, dubbed Olive Branch days after the US announcement of its plans to build a 30,000-strong Kurdish force from Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighting Daesh in the region. According to Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag, the only aim of Ankara in Afrin is to eliminate terrorists from the area.

However, the announced was later refuted by the US side and called 'misunderstanding'.

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